Digital communications provide significant advantages over analog communications, specifically with respect to the capability of addressing devices and subsystems. This is central to the flow of information between nodes or devices disposed on the Internet where IP-based devices can be addressed uniquely such that information can be routed to only a single device or groups of devices called out according to the respective addresses. The convergence of the IP-based services and cellular communications services has opened the door for providing services that heretofore were not available to the cellular user who seeks access to IP-based networks, as well as for IP users seeking access to services of the cellular networks. Wireless devices such as portable computers and smartphones can now access services on wired/wireless networks using IP technology.
Taking part in the digital communications boom, vendors of appliances and home entertainment systems, for example, design such systems to be network addressable nodes as part of IP networks for receiving and transmitting digital signals and data. Cable and satellite television systems transmit content in a digital format to televisions and other media output systems. Moreover, Internet connectivity using IP packet traffic can be obtained over the same feed as the cable and satellite television digital signals.
A new technology in the area of digital television is Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) which describes a system that can receive and display video signals encoded as IP packets. Rather than replacing the TV with a PC as the main tool to watch content via IPTV, for example, vendors are bringing the Internet to the existing TV, via a set-top box, for example. Given this added IP capability to the existing television systems offers additional opportunity for presenting information to viewers.